What happened onApril 1, 1958Tuesday Week 14

Today is September13, 2026 Sunday.

April 1 is a Tuesday again in 1969.

About April 1

April 1 Events On this day through the years

Born ?

April 1FamousBirthdays

In loving memoryFamous DeathsApril 1

The World in 1958 the year a plastic hoop took over the yard

Tokyo Tower stands 333 metres, about nine metres taller than the Eiffel Tower it was modelled on. Workers put it up in roughly a year and a half, and it is painted orange and white so pilots can pick it out.

Life back then

Wham-O put a plastic ring called the hula hoop into stores, and children spun them on sidewalks until the craze died by Christmas. Elvis Presley got an army haircut in March and spent the rest of the year as a soldier in Germany. In Brussels about 41 million people visited a world's fair built around a giant steel model of an iron crystal. Songs came on small 45s with a big hole in the middle, and radio stations began counting down a new national chart called the Hot 100.

The year in 8 events

• 🏛️Jan 1 Six countries open the European Economic Community, which grows into the EU.
• 🛰️Jan 31 The United States launches Explorer 1, its first satellite. It finds belts of radiation around the Earth.
• 🕯️Feb 6 A plane carrying the Manchester United football team crashes on takeoff in Munich. Eight players are among the dead.
• ⚽Jun 29 Brazil beats Sweden 5 to 2 to win the World Cup. Seventeen year old Pele scores twice in the final.
• ⚔️Jul 14 Army officers overthrow the king of Iraq. The monarchy ends in a single morning.
• 🚀Jul 29 President Eisenhower signs the law that creates NASA.
• 💡Sep 12 Jack Kilby switches on the first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments, the start of the computer chip.
• 🌍Oct 2 Guinea, in west Africa, becomes independent after voting no to staying tied to France.

Who Was in Charge?

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